Lessons Resume! - My Latest Learning Updates

Howdy readers! How have you been?

Sorry about the gaps between postings. My "brokened" wrist, as my Waybums calls it, is well on its way to being mended and I am pleased to report that postings should be more regular now. :) I would have popped on and let you know about my days off, but I just didn’t trust myself to stop at a paragraph. Because I’ve still been learning new things every day. Some funny things, some shocking things and some things that just made me wish I could sit down for an hour and hammer out a post so you’d know these things too. :)

One of the more interesting things I learned about?

Kumquats.

Cute little things, aren’t they?

I used the kumquats for an object lesson in a Sunday School class I substitute-taught. Because you know how kids are with substitute teachers, and it’s doubly true about Substitute Sunday School teachers, right? The memory verse they are working on is Psalms 147:5 - Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

Which fits in with the blog, come to think of it. As mere humans, there is a limit to our understanding. We have to learn things as we go, usually by experience or by what we’re taught by others. But sometimes our experience does not equip us, and others don’t fully know how things work and have to make “best-guesses.” I asked the students if they had eaten a kumquat? No. How would they know what it tasted like? They could make a guess. A pretty good guess. They could even ask me what it tasted like.

But until you’ve eaten a kumquat, you don’t really know.

My favorite information gleaned about kumquats was from my independent study on how people thought kumquats are traditionally eaten. Ten out of ten people I asked thought that you peel and discard the rind and eat the slices of fruit inside. They do look like mini oranges, after all. But those who have experienced the enigma that is the kumquat know that the inside is pretty tart and the rind is the part that’s citrusy and sweet. So most people who eat kumquats eat them whole with the rinds on, or peel off and eat just the rind. No kidding.

I just love the idea of serving a God who knows what a kumquat tastes like without ever needing to taste it, and understands how its molecules are arranged and can remember the first time anyone ate one. Quite frankly, it takes some of the pressure off of me. There’s only so much information I can fit in this brain. I already have a hard enough time remembering where I put my phone.

Kumquat.

I think I will use this as my new exclamation when I stub my toe.

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Oh, and since I’m on the subject of produce,

I learned something interesting about potatoes.

I learned that you can explode a potato in the oven. (And - hey - I didn't even do it myself this time.) I'm pretty sure I already knew that, but seeing the results first-hand really drive the lesson home.

I went to a birthday party at my aunt's house over the weekend. When Auntie opened the oven she was surprised to see tater confetti all over the innards of her oven and an empty potato-skin jacket. Of course I had to look up the phenomenon when I got home and found out that's why it's so important to prick the potato skin all over. The tiny pricks work like teeny release valves to allow steam to escape from the spud. So –warning - a simple stab in the middle may not be sufficient. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have been jabbing potatoes for decades and never really appreciated fully why I had been poking them. This is learning in action . . .

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And since I’m on the subject of exploding,

I’ll tell you about this show on YouTube I learned about:

“Is It A Good Idea to Microwave This?”

A couple of guys came up with a brilliant idea to test what things are microwavable.
And by brilliant, I mean often resulting in fire or sparks…

I have operated a microwave for a long time. In fact, I remember the day my parents got our first microwave. It was such a big deal. Wow. That makes me feel a little old. Anyway, one of the things I learned very early on is that you don’t microwave your silverware with the food or you will suddenly have a shocking display of fireworks over your mashed potatoes.

Well, don't do that sort of thing unless you want to have a popular show online that people will get sucked into watching just to see if you survive. . .

Here is the episode where they find out if it’s a good idea to microwave fireworks.

And if it’s not obvious enough, I’ll make it extra clear:

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

I’m not really proud of this fact, but as a learner this show is fascinating.

And as a mom, this show is also pretty terrifying.

I watched them microwaving everything from a can of shaving cream to a roll of Bubble Tape. They even microwaved a microwave. Well, chunks of the microwave they had killed in the previous episode. And, yes, it was a bad idea. Fumes and sparks and choking smoke and a couple of guys killing off microwaves. The worst part is that I keep looking around at things and wondering what would happen if they were microwaved. Holy Smokes, Batman!

That reminds me. My husband did an accidental test on whether or not it was a good idea to microwave the little ants that were trespassing in his microwave.

It was a bad idea. Both for the ants and the microwave.

Here is an exhaustive page about all things microwave from the USDA.

Hmm. I didn’t see anything on that page about fireworks…

Well, it’s great to be back in the swing of things and I look forward to learning more stuff!

I’ll keep you posted. :)

No microwaves were harmed (by me) in the making of this post...